1 US EPA Says it is Auditing Biofuel Producers' Secondhand Cooking Oil Supply

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By Leah Douglas

Aug 7 (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has actually introduced examinations into the supply chains of a minimum of 2 sustainable fuel producers in the middle of market issues that some might be using deceptive feedstocks for biodiesel to protect rewarding government aids.

EPA spokesperson Jeffrey Landis told Reuters that the agency has introduced audits over the past year, but decreased to identify the companies targeted since the examinations are continuous.

The production of biodiesel from sustainable components, like used oil, can earn refiners a variety of state and federal environmental and climate aids, consisting of tradable credits under a program administered by the EPA called the Renewable Fuel Standard. But fears have actually been installing that some materials identified as used cooking oil are actually cheaper and less sustainable virgin palm oil, a product that is connected with logging and other environmental damage.

The issue came into focus following a surge in utilized cooking oil exports from Asia recently that analysts have stated involves unrealistically high volumes relative to the amount of cooking oil utilized and recovered in the region. The European Union is likewise examining feedstocks over the scams concerns.

The EPA audits began after the agency updated domestic supply-chain accounting requirements in July 2023 for renewable fuel manufacturers seeking to make credits under the RFS, he stated.

"EPA has actually carried out audits of eco-friendly fuel manufacturers considering that July 2023 that includes, to name a few things, an evaluation of the areas that utilized cooking oil utilized in renewable fuel production was collected," he said. "These investigations, nevertheless, are ongoing and we are not able to discuss continuous enforcement investigations."

U.S. senators from farm states have actually called for more oversight of biofuel feedstocks, stating federal firms should be as extensive in verifying imports as they are auditing domestic supply chains.

"The Biden administration has produced vigorous standards to validate, not simply trust, American manufacturers, and it is essential that the very same scrutiny is used to imported feedstocks," six U.S. senators, led by Roger Marshall and Sherrod Brown, wrote in a June 20 letter to federal companies.

Another letter from 15 senators to the Treasury Department on July 30 prompted the administration to leave out imported feedstocks like UCO from an extra clean fuel tax credit program passed in the Inflation Reduction Act. (Reporting by Leah Douglas in Washington Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Matthew Lewis)